Casinos today are being built with ever larger gaming spaces and extra amenities. 150,000 square feet of gaming space is no longer uncommon. In this space, there may be thousands of slot and video gaming machines, providing hundreds of different games at denominations ranging from pennies to hundreds of dollars or higher. Pits of non-slot machine games, such as table games, roulette, craps, etc. are typically interspersed within the long rows of slot machines. Surrounding the games are often entertainment, shopping, hotels, and conventions. Indeed, the larger casinos tend to have some of the best headliner entertainment available in the country, with many of the biggest names in entertainment doing shows. Also, within and around the gaming areas are the facilities and amenities that make a casino work, including bars, restaurants, restrooms, cashier's cages, ticket redemption centers, frequent player's clubs, etc. The entire casino is typically well integrated to maximize revenue through impulse buying and synergy.
One problem that has arisen as casinos get bigger and bigger, is that it is becoming ever harder for people to find what they want in a casino, and in particular, on the gaming floor. With thousands of slot or video gaming machines flashing their lights and making seductive noises, it has become ever more difficult to find a specific game, especially if a player wants to play it with specific stakes. Similarly, the larger casinos may offer dozens of table games at various denominations in multiple pits, typically surrounded by those blinking and clanging slot machines. Even finding restrooms can be difficult.
Making things even more difficult, the trend is towards a more dynamic gaming floor. Table games open and close, depending on traffic. The table stakes and bets also may change during the day, again depending on traffic. A player may have found a game to his liking in one pit one day, and the next time he visits, that table is closed, but the same game is being played across the casino. This trend is extending into slot machines, with some slot machines being capable of dynamically changing the games and/or their wagering denomination.
Currently, the larger casinos provide static maps of their properties, similar to those found at many shopping centers. They typically show the major facilities, such as restaurants, meeting rooms, hotel, stores, restrooms, etc. But invariably, the gaming floor is shown as a big open space, often identified just as “gaming”. These maps are even available online. For example, http://www.lvcasinoinfo.com/propmap1.html currently provides links to maps for most of the casinos in Las Vegas.
It would be advantageous for casinos to be able to provide their visitors with a fast, efficient, method of finding whatever they want to see or experience, while visiting. In particular, it would be advantageous if they could provide such a fast, efficient, method for their visitors to find the slot machine games, table games, and other facilities and amenities they may be interested in seeing or experiencing.